Henry, George and Mr. Marchdale are at the gate of the manor when they hear a shot. Henry correctly assumes it's Flora, leaps the gate, and runs toward the house.
He is narrowly missed by the second shot, and heads towards the open window. Inside is a strange man holding Flora in his arms. Henry naturally jumps in and applies a choke hold.
Whoops, turns out it's Charles Holland, Flora's fiance! Relieved, Henry turns his attention to his inert mother.
By this time, Mr. Marchdale and George have arrived. Marchdale rings for the servants, then notices Mr. Holland and wants to know what this "stranger" is doing here. Henry makes an introduction, but it's clear that Holland and Marchdale have taken an instant dislike to each other. Hmm...
The servants have no idea what's been going on, and get Mrs. Bannerworth to her own room. Flora, on the other hand, is revived by Charles' pleading and clings to him.
Charles notices Flora looks unwell, and George claims "We have all been ill."
At this point, Flora urges Charles to leave her forever as she cannot be his.
Henry, Flora and Mr. Marchdale start talking about "it", which further confuses Charles. George promises an explanation, but not right now.
Flora tries to break off the engagement, but Charles is having none of that. He goes on for several paragraphs of Purple Prose about how constant and unshakable his love is.
The young woman insists that she's showing true love by dumping Charles, which he's still baffled by. Henry finally convinces Charles to go to a different room for a debriefing which will explain the apparent madness that has descended on the Bannerworths.
Charles is about to hear the awful truth—but can he handle the truth?
—-
Now. the sensible thing to do is get Charles and Flora off on the next coach to Gretna Green for a quickie wedding (possibly with Mrs. Bannerworth and George in tow.) Meanwhile, Henry sells the house, settles the debts, then clears out with no forwarding address himself.
But we've still got over a hundred chapters to go, so that ain't a-gonna happen.
I'm trying to make these writeups a bit punchier, is it helping?
Your thoughts and comments?
